PACIFIC STATES MARINE FISHERIES COMMISSION

Work days were often upwards of 16 hours in loud, cramped, hot and wet environments. Had to use own vehicle to travel to work sites, sometimes upwards to 2 hours away. Terrible communication to employees. Schedules were constantly changing and covered insane start/finish times, and often released the weekend of; there was no way of planning ahead of time. If you got hurt on the job, you were out of work with no compensation. Staff used intimidation and bullying tactics to keep people in line and were only concerned with own advancement. Complaints went unaddressed. No breaks at all, not even for lunch, shifts were packed solid. Sites were dangerous and were often where there was no viable communication method, emergencies were addressed only during normal business hours and our shifts went well beyond those before and after.
Not sure if the rest of the company is like this or if it was just this region, but as-is it's an awful company and I would never recommend working for them.

Seemed like there was a bit of a disconnect between the bio and the supervisor regarding equipment issues.  Supervisor was constantly in a bad mood due to issues with equipment (which is a common occurrence in fieldwork) which made the day awkward and uncomfortable.  Supervisor was over-barring and frankly rude as a person and didn't allow for techs to do common task such as handle adult fish?  (seems a bit ridiculous being that i was a fish tech...)  Overall, felt like there was a lack of training or direction and then consequences for your shortcomings, generally a toxic workplace.  That being said, i feel like other crews within this company are a lot more friendly and patient with new techs, I just had a bit of bad luck with my particular crew I guess

I don not recommend PSMFC for long term employment but it is does give opportunities to gain entry level experience. Jobs are grant funded with no expectation for long term employment and do not provide professional development. 

PSMFC wages are not competitive with private or government jobs. Raises are minimal and I have yet to see a bonus even though I have excellent evaluation reviews.

PSMFC does have good medical benefits, vacation time and sick leave.

Management tends to be antagonistic towards working moms and woman, judging by comments made during my reviews.

I worked with PSMFC for 2.5 years. Most of their research technician positions are seasonal and consist of 5-11 month contracts. As a technician, the responsibilities are field work intensive (which I loved). Most projects enabled their employees to return home every evening but some overnight travel/camping was required. In my experience, PSMFC hired really well qualified, passionate, fun employees. You spend a lot of time with your field partners and I enjoyed every minute of their company!

I walked along the riverbank interviewing fishermen, gathering samples from any fish they had caught for a study.

Had a great boss... never really saw my co-workers as we were assigned to different locations every day.

Hardest part of the job was getting people to realize I wasn't enforcement and didn't care about their license or how many fish they had, just needed data on the ones they had.

Best part of the job was watching someone catch a 36in stealhead!

This is a really good entry level job with no real previous experience required. You really only clip adipose fins and coded wire tag the fish. Pretty laid back but does include a lot of travel. It is not on a 5 day m-f schedule so that can be tough for some. You make extra money traveling with per diem being about $50 a day and your hotels are reimbursed. We take company vehicles and travel together so you don’t have to drive your own. Plenty of overtime in the summer months. 

The benefits for a full-year employee really are outstanding.  However, there is no upward mobility or interest in providing job training to advance your career, telework is only available to those in the "inner circle", and there is little flexibility from management on setting schedules to maximize a work/ life balance.  If you are a salaried employee, you can pretty much get away with anything. If you are an hourly worker, the attitude is "there's the door".

What is the best part of working at the company?
Variety of tasks that employees are expected to perform

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Poor management and pay raise scheduling

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Low morale and motivation to perform above minimum

Days can be long but with the right crew can be fun and make the time go by fast. It's a monitoring program so it can get very repetitive. Management is gotten a lot better , and the workplace culture has become more positive.  

The part time nature of my position made it hard to stay with the employer when a full-time gig came up. But they were absolutely understanding and supportive. They were also super flexible which was very much appreciated since I had to work at more than one organization at the same time. Overall all great experience. 

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